AWS Thinkbox Discussion Forums

Krakatoa 2.0 : SR, MX FAQ notes

Deprecated Krakatoa MX 2.x Beta Discussion
#1

THis is a thread that can become a FAQ upon release

What is Krakatoa 2.0 MX?

Krakatoa 1.6 and previous incarnations only supported 3DS Max and Windows. As Krakatoa becomes multi-platform, we determined we needed a designation that specifies what platform the application runs on. MX is the designator for Max, with 2.0 being the latest version.

What is Krakatoa 2.0 SR?

SR is the new multi-platform rendering component which will function as a command-line rendering engine on Linux 32/64, Windows 32/64 and Mac OSX.

Why is Krakatoa 2.0 SR at v2, when it is a new product?

All the rendering features applicable to a standalone renderer are at the same version as MX, and rather than have different version numbers we determined it was more clear to ensure they were in sync.

How do Krakatoa 2.0 MX and SR work together?

Nothing will change for 3DSMax users - they can render on the network using a Krakatoa render license booting up 3DS Max as slave on the farm etc. However, our plan on release is to allow Krakatoa Max Render nodes to be cross-license compatible with SR - meaning that if you have 10 Krakatoa render licenses, you can have 10 SR licenses in use, or 5 of each in use concurrently etc. This could allow you to use linux render nodes to render from Krakatoa MX, or combine data from Maya and Max at render time or however you see fit with no additional cost.

Is there new pricing? How much does it cost to upgrade?

Clients on an active support contract get 2.0 for free. Krakatoa 2.0 is not changing in price at this time, however SR has new pricing and this affects Krakatoa 2 render node pricing as well. We estimate that render nodes will be approximately 2* more than the current price. To clarify - if you have 10 seats of 1.6 rendering AND on an active support contract, you can float those between SR 2.0 and Krakatoa MX 2.0 3DS Max rendering licenses.

How do i get Particles out of Houdini/Softimage/Maya/ Cinema 4D/ Nuke/etc into SR?

SR supports Ia Python-based scene description interface inspired by the Renderman C specification and using the open Thinkbox PRT file format for particle data exchange.
That’s a long winded way of saying that in the short term it will take some TD magic to get lights, cameras, matte objects etc out - but anyone familiar with Renderman shouldnt have an issue.
There are a number of 3rd party PRT exporters for some of these applications already out there, and now you can render those assets directly wihtout requiring a 3DS Max license.

Does SR 2.0 fully support MX features?

Currently there are specific MAX workflow features that cannot be support in a standalone renderer, and may not be appropriate to do so either.

more to come…please feel free to comment if none of this is clear :wink:

#2

any feedback on the faq? you know, i can add to it if people…um… AQ… :unamused:

#3

Thankfully… “Nothing will change for 3DSMax users” :mrgreen:

Althoug this was unclear:
“Clients on an active support contract get 2.0 for free.”

What 2.0? MX, SR, or both?

#4

Both. As the FAQ explains, SR uses the same render licenses as MX. So if you want, you can mix and match, as long as you have purchased Krakatoa render licenses previously (e.g Standard bundle with 2 or Professional bundle with 10 render licenses) and your support is still valid .

#5

exactly. because we love you kraktoa users so much, we wanted to make sure you can get the power of the dark side included. once you experience launching a krakatoa render from cmd line, or from a shorcut on your desktop without having to boot your 3d app - you might enjoy it :smiling_imp:

#6

That is exactly what I was unclear about! I was understanding that the render nodes where cross-lovely but no idea about the actual command-line control.

#7

Oh really? Are you expecting to have a GUI?

#8

chad -

not initially, no. however, its easy enough to make a cmd-line shortcut with your frequently used settings. back in the prman or entropy.exe days, i would create shortcuts of favourite scenes and just point them to generic rib files i would paste into, save and relaunch the shortcut.

cb

#9

So if rendering licenses will be *2, we should buy any now if we were sitting on the fence?

#10

You don’t get 2x licenses, you just get to use a license for either SR or MX (unless I missed out on a big sale announcement).

Regarding the SR videos, so far we’ve seen that you make a scene and send it over to render. So far so good. Is there going to be the ability to keep the scene up and just modify it in place and trigger renders? Like if I were to send over a whole scene, load it up, then send commands to alter something, like the focal plane, and then request the image without having to have SR reload the entire particle set and geometry? For interactivity this would be a huge deal, just as the PCache/LCache is.

  • Chad

EDIT: Oh, now I get it. Yes, the nodes will double in price. So we should stock up now.

#11

Magma PRT Op. Just noticed that. The PRT part implies good things. :slight_smile:

#12

So where is the Krakatoa SR beta? We were discussing it today in a meeting, but we’re a bit short on implementation details and how we should go about talking to it.

  • Chad
#13

KRakatoa SR beta is up, and has been. i’ll ensure you are on it…

cb

#14

refresh and check
cb

#15

So the $495 price on the site now is the release price for SR, or will that still double?

#16

That’s the price !

Integration is 1k eg max, Maya

Cb

#17

Sweet!

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